Ramtek

The Ramtek hill is a short distance from Nagpur and a wonderful drive through the countryside.

Believed to be associated with the Prince Rama of Ayodhya who tarried a while here on the hill Ramgiri during his exile, the clutch of  temples date from the time of the Gupta dynasty or precisely the regency of dowager queen Prabhavati Gupta ( 390 to 410 AD) , the daughter of the mighty Chandragupta II based on a copperplate inscription. It is also said that the poet Kalidas wrote his opus Meghdoot ( The Cloud Messenger ) on these hills, surrounded by a dense forest, looking up at the first monsoon clouds sailing across the sky.

The Lakshman temple at the far end of the stronghold dates from 1400 AD. All these temples were extensively renovated by the Bhosle chieftains from the 18th century.

Its been a while. Even then, cant stop wondering how was it like on the hill during the time the dowager queen, the daughter of Emperor Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, arrived on horseback and sat on a platform and perhaps, just perhaps, sighed in peace.

18th century school and temple in Nagpur

Its been a while since my trip to Nagpur and I came across these pictures in my PC in a moment of introspection and idle browsing, listening to some mind numbing Trance :)

Its actually the oldest school in Nagpur and still retains the wooden pillars in the central courtyard

The design of this assembly hall as it is in use now, clearly suggests that this room was once used by the early Bhosles of Nagpur (mid to late 18th century)as a durbar hall, with galleries providing for the attendance of ladies of the royal house

These classrooms on the terrace looked terribly cute, the building palpably ancient with slightly uneven floors and wooden stairs!

From the terrace, I noticed a dilapidated temple at the back of the school, beyond the playgrounds, its peak or the shikhar, proudly standing tall among a tangled mass of jungles and hovels clinging to it like parasites

I found it truly amazing that the temple was built entirely of wood including the still shining pillars and a wonderful ceiling which was too dark to be shot with an ordinary cellphone

And this is the seven storeyed well or baoli, so common with medieval indian royal establishments, with the bottom stories all flooded and sealed off now, and redolent of stories of secret passages and buried treasure :)

Clearly, the entire property including the present school, was the first royal establishment. Unfortunately, there is not the slightest murmur of conservation efforts and the ASI was nowhere in sight. Sigh ( and that's definitely not the first sigh of the day!

The Yeoor hills

This is quite near and I used to come here for walks frequently some time back. The actual forest is fenced off from here to contain not only wildlife, but also to prevent people from making a nuisance, because its a small forest, not more than 40 odd sq kilometers (SORRY, ITS 104 SQ KILOMETERS)and that too, right into the huge metropolis of Mumbai.

And apart from a lot of butterflies that were never still, we saw huge spiders dangling apparently from space! Cat legged spiders ..

And yes, that signboard says the Panthera pardus is loose and take care!

We came upon this water body and took some rest, watching baby monkeys at play.

And then, back home, to a sumptuous lunch!